Script for final project
Rise of Youth Activists in Egypt
LEAD IN:
The important role that youth activists played in the uprising gave power to young
generations to produce real change. It was one big dream that pulled people from across
classes, religions, and generations joined by their common hope to fulfill it. A-U-C’s
Farah Mansour reports.
(Start w/ song , ba7lam by ZAP Tharwat 20 seconds FADE OUT)
SFX (Start w/ chanting, 30 seconds (FADE OUT then under)
Lead:
After decades of political demobilization, 25th of January has stimulated the
renaissance of youth activism, this time breaking with many of the taboos that
characterized Egyptian political life. When the light of hope and democracy finally
shined over Egypt, the youth have become the forefront of public consciousness as Egypt
undergoes drastic change.
Youth for justice and freedom is an already existing movement that gained great
popularity after the success of the revolution. Abdel Rahman Hennawy, a 21 year old
activist, and a member of the movement, who has recently launched a blog for political
reasons, explains how youth activism is demonstrating unique characteristics that are
setting it apart from the earlier waves of youth activism in Egypt.
Hennawy: The reason why youth movements largely exist now without fixed
ideologies is because Hosni Mubarak and state security gave two options: Its
either abide by the old regime or by the Islamists who have nothing to offer.
The 18 days of the uprising has altered political life and made youth recover
values that had been destroyed by years of oppression.
Hennawy: “Before the revolution we were 200 or 300 now we exceeded 2000.
Half the people in the movement were into politics but did not belong to
a specific movement. The movement was founded in 2010. Before then, I did not
join any political parties or movements. I was very active though. I attended
almost all protests, events, and conferences. I was confused; I didn’t know what
to join. I met the members of the movement at a protest, and since then I got
introduced to them and their agenda. I decided to join the media committee. In the
movement, there is a commission public, responsible for strikes and protests; an
educational committee responsible for choosing topics of discussion because not
everyone understands. Finally, there is a media committee responsible for
facecbook, twitter and leaflets.”
Similar to Hennawy’s thoughts on youth activism, Abdel Rahman Daour, a young
political activist, explains the reason behind its rise after the old regime has fallen.
Daour: One of the things that lead to the participation going was the absence of
the security regime following them and everything being monitored. The only
people doing that were the Islamists but after the absence of state security, it gave
space to liberal or secular youth to move down without being afraid of anything.
The rise that people talk about now in youth activism is activism amongst the
liberal youth or secular youth. However, the participation of youth in politics has
always been there but it was only the Islamists group with the Muslim
Brotherhood leading it. Until 2000, no youth were working, or the majority of the
youth working belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood.
(Song: ba7lam ( im dreaming) by ZAP Tharwat (:20) FADE OUT then under)
Amira El Refai, who is a political science graduate and a young activist explains
why she has intensified her efforts and activities post revolution
El Refai “Leaving Tahrir Square was just the beginning of a long battle that we
were and still are determined to win. We are determining the direction and fate of
where Egypt can and should go. I’ve been attending meetings for different new
political parties because the already existing ones are useless. They’ve always
been there yet they haven’t accomplished anything. Al Adl party as well as Amr
Hamzawy’s are very impressive and I am about to choose one of them. Al Adl are
very active Right after the revolution I joined Eed Wahda, an organization that
promoted political awareness mainly targeting lower income classes. it made me
realize that this cannot be done without a political party with a plan. After 25th
January youth educated themselves. They proved to be the opposite of what
people thought of them. I have very high hopes. If you look at the parties, most of
them are youth. They are very active. They’re changing Egyptian mainstream. All
this will change the youth’s perspective. Our main goal is now to work on raising
awareness.
Egypt's uprisings have lent new credence to the power of youth movements and
nonviolent resistance in authoritarian settings. For years they have been referred to as
“passive youth" and youth who have "learned helplessness”. After the 25th of January,
this idea has been eradicated.
Emad Aly, a political analyst explains how the youth are trying to capture the
public interest before it quickly fades.
Aly:“The conditions and circumstances are allowing them to be active without
any fear of the political police or political rules of the old regime. They started to
have more confidence for what they believe and their capabilities. They were the
spark of this revolution.
Previous daunting circumstances no longer exist. Aly confirms that the
government will not resist the youth movements but the ultimate fear is to weaken their
coalition and therefore youth will lose their influence and power within the government.
El Refai: I graduated the day Mubarak stepped down. If Mubarak was still ruling
after I graduated I don’t think I would’ve been that active. There were always
obstacles. I couldn’t have entered the political circle; it was restricted to specific
people. My only options were either the National Democratic Party or the
cartoonish parties and do nothing.
While many authorities fear the empowerment of the youth now and consider
them to be a rising threat, Aly expresses his high doubts regarding this issue:
Aly:“In all democratic countries, the youth are representing the real future of the
country. It’s all over the world that the old people and wise people think but the
real activists are the youth. The youth are the ones who have the physical power.
When the older people see that the youth are going to divert their targets to
unrespectable or selfish targets, they would turn against them so they wouldn’t be
in conflict with the wise people”. (:18)
As much as Abdelrahman Daour believes in youth activism, he thinks they should
work with the older people, to gain from their wisdom.
Daour: I believe in youth being part of political parties and I don’t believe in
youth movements. I think youth as youth they need someone to lead them and to
guide them throughout the process. When they’re left to do youth movements, we
lose this. We may call it an aspect of wisdom to lead the excess energy and
motivation from the youth. They can end up doing something wrong instead of
doing something good.
Omar Kandil, ex Student Union President and a political science major at AUC
epxlains the main reason youth broke their silence:
Kandil:“There is high responsibility on the Mubarak regime to oppress the youth
to express their opinion and to have an input in their society. The fact that the
regime stepped down and the revolution succeeded in its objectives made the
possibilities open for people to become active members of the society. I think it’s
a ratio of 90 percent. Also, there is now more freedom, possibility to express ones
opinion; which I think is one of the most important things”. (:21)
(Song: ba7lam ( im dreaming) by ZAP Tharwat (:20) FADE OUT then under)
After Mubarak had stepped down, youth were full of energy and the idea that they
regained their beloved country filled their lives with hope and initiative. Unfortunately,
when remains of the old regime tried repressing the revolution, some became passive.
Aly says this is normal to happen:
Aly: “The percentage differs from situation to another, from country to another
and society to another. The percentage might be more here because we, as a
society do not have any confidence in our rulers, our governments, our ministers.
If the government slows down in proceeding and reaching the targets of the
revolution, this again gives negative reflections on the youth so some become
unoptimistic and depressed. As human beings we differ. Our energy insistence for
struggle differs from one another. By the end when the unoptimistic see good
results, it recharges their soul again inorder to insist and strengthen them to
strees on their ways to reach the targets”. (:30)
The revolution encompassed youth from all different walks of life. The level of
education and political awareness varied greatly. There are encouraging signs that
Egypt’s youth activists may have risen above this lack of political know-how.
Aly argues that the majority of the youth are fully aware of the political and
economic situation in Egypt. He says:
Aly: “What I heard in Tahrir and on the news, majority of those people know
properly their target and how to reach them. Sometimes they are in a hurry they want to
reach the targets in X time while it will need normally 4X time. This starts to be the
conflict between youth, government and people in power. Some technical political points,
they studied it. Their problem is the time. Because they have the revolution energy they
want to change everything immediately”. (:30)
It was not just the politics that youth were interested in. Mohamed Aboul Naga,
came up with a unique project that was lacking in Egypt.
(NAT SND: ebda2 benafsak meeting (:20) FADE OUT then under)
It all started on the 30th of January. We were sitting me, and two of my friends;
Mohamed El Beltagy and Yehia El Shazly. Yehia said there are many double
parked cars in Zamalek. Why don’t we do some stickers to say keda 3eib (that’s
wrong) to be placed on the back o f the cars so that people feel guilty for doing
this. We started as Ebda2 Benafsak, start everything by yourself and improve
yourself, because the revolution focused on improving the country and didn’t
focus on every person improving himself so that others take him as a role model
and to follow him in what he’s doing. The main goal or main agenda was to
improve the behavior of the human being in order to improve the people around
him and everyone who he meets throughout his day.
Hassan Ragab, a professor at the American University in Cairo, and a political activist
who witnessed revolutions in different decades explains
Hassan Ragab: Quiet honestly, the Egyptians, up and down, they can fight
sometimes. I have been there through all these kinds of things. (0’30) Hosni
Mubarak was a catastrophe. I believe that the Egyptians they have it. They can do
it anytime. Sometimes life is complicated and people say let’s try maybe it’s
getting better while in fact it is much much worse. More than 30 years of this hell
with Hosni Mubarak is a long time. It is not that Egyptian are not really
interested in this. They are really inside this. They would fight. Just at a given
time things went wrong. It was accumulated. Wishes, what they want, how to live.
Henawy: The government did not respect us until we united. We have to continue
this way. The revolution is not over yet. There is no democracy what so ever. The
youth movements are the only thing protecting the democracy
For A-U-C News, I’m Farah Mansour
Special Thanks to:
Interviewees:
Dr. Hassan Ragab, professor at AUC, political analyst and political activist
Emad Aly, political analyst
Amira El Refaei, political activist
Abdelrahman Hennawy, political activist
Mohamed Nagaty, founder of Ebda2 Benfsak
Abdel Rahman Da3our, political activist
Omar Kandil, activist
Music:
Ba7lam by Zap Tharwat
Soura Abdel Halim Hafez